Sorry to be the bearer of bad news: crime's up, prices are up, and Xcel just put in for a 400% increase. Elections do matter after all.
I gotta love The Center Square, they always bring such cheery news about Colorado--both about the cost we pay in taxes and the extra crime!
Not to put a damper on your Tuesday, but I wanted to share the pair of Center Square articles below. They are related to each other and they are also thematically related to the post that follows this one.
The theme? The costs that we are now paying in Colorado.
And yes, you can think of crime as not only making life less pleasant but as yet another cost that we must pay to live here: we pay for losses to ourselves and we pay either directly or through higher prices for losses at businesses.
The first link below is full of some sobering statistics. I'll leave you to read up on the numbers if you're curious, but I'd like to highlight a couple of them because they tend to push back on the narrative you often see in the media.
--Colorado ranks 8th in the nation for violent crimes and 3rd in the nation for property crimes.
--Quoting the article, "Colorado’s overall crime rate increased 21.6% since 2012, while Kansas (-31.5%), Oklahoma (-29.6%), Texas (-27.6%), New Mexico (-9.6%), Arizona (-37.2%), Utah (-33.8%), Wyoming (-26.3%), and Nebraska -28.1%) all have seen decreases over the same timeframe."
There might be an overall swell of crime in the US, but should we be leading it? And just as importantly, what are our state policymakers doing to counter this trend?
The second article below (linked second at bottom) is perhaps better in the sense that taxes don't involve violence (well, the coercion of government could be seen in some ways as a form of violence--remember you don't have a choice of paying taxes), but not by much.
Again, I'll leave it to you to read up, but the report covered puts Colorado in the top third of states in terms of the per capita taxes COLLECTED.
I capitalized that word because I want to be clear in noting that the report (see the third link below for convenience) is not about tax rate. It's not about mill levies. It's about how much comes out of your pocket and ends up in the hands of the state and local governments.
Important to note because it's frequent that you read about how Colorado has low tax rates or that our property tax rates are some of the lowest rates in the nation.
Perhaps I can put a note in my wallet celebrating the low rates. I sure don't know that there's much to celebrate about the idea that so much MONEY is being pulled out.
Oh, and I was unable to find any details as to whether or not this study included the numerous fees we pay to the government. You know, since according to our state supreme court, they're not taxes.
One last thing to note for both interest and out of a sense of fairness. Take a look at the screenshot attached. Two things I note here.
--Think of how much internal "tax exporting" we do as a state. Oh, let those filthy smokers pay more for preschool. They deserve it; it's such a nasty habit. Sports betting is another example. I'll leave this one with a question: what happens when we don't have enough sin to pay for all of the wonderful things we want to do?
--Second, I think it fair to note that Colorado does get a fair bit of tourism (skiing anyone?), and so I think it should be noted that, as the authors in the screengrab say, this likely pushes up CO's per capita tax bill. I would say it's likely balanced by our higher fees, but worth noting.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/colorado/article_a1e926d6-825f-11ee-a1a5-3b0b13facb4c.html
https://www.thecentersquare.com/colorado/article_d90e1cb0-88b9-11ee-b20c-a7c338a6d0fc.html
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-local-tax-collections-per-capita-fy-2021/
Paying (yet more) to Xcel. Always more to Xcel.
I think it reasonable to argue about the causes of increased crime in Colorado. And, yes, I think it reasonable to say that it's not all Democrat policy (though some is).
Perhaps less so than about crime, but I think you reasonably (maybe) make some limited arguments about increased tax collections not entirely being at the feet of Democrats too.
I do not think it reasonable to argue who to blame for what you'll see in the article below, however. This one the Democrats running Colorado own. They own it lock, stock, and barrel.
Let me quote the article linked below (which is for all intents and purposes a Dept of Regulatory Agencies press release):
"In 2019, Colorado enacted SB 19-077, establishing new requirements for electric public utilities to file a TEP [Transportation Electrification Plan] application with the Commission [the Public Utilities Commission] every three years beginning May 15, 2020. The purpose of these TEP applications is 'to support widespread transportation electrification' within the utility’s service territory. SB 19-077 requires that a TEP 'seek to minimize overall costs and maximize overall benefits.'”
The newest proposed TEP (the one for 2024 - 2026) is mainly to cover the cost for fast chargers and other infrastructure, something I've posted about in the past and so won't retread here.
There are two things of note here, however. You will see them in screenshots 1 and 2 attached.
--Note the factor of 4, that is 400% increase, in the cost of these plans as time goes on. I imagine that over time the costs for this will start to level off (that is, once built, we only have to pay to maintain chargers), but one certainly hopes that this happens sooner rather than later! God almighty.
--If you want to speak up on this mark your calendar for the hearings which will start on the 10th of January. The PUC and Xcel took a beating last year and I hope many people speak up and they take a beating again in the future. It is one of the few ways we have of blunting these extra costs. Seeing as how Democrats are more than happy to hand this stuff off to an unelected board.
https://www.longmontleader.com/local-news/transportation-electrification-plan-open-for-public-comments-7844055